Soon, the monster tide dwindled to a stop.
As the last ant monster died, the exhausted members slumped to the ground.
Hah! Hah! Hah!
Sounds of labored breaths rang inside the chamber.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Only their eyes silently communicated as their gazes locked.
But every member understood what others thought.
'We did it!'
'We survived!'
And they knew who was responsible for their victory—it was the third prince.
One by one, the people stood.
Then, as if they planned it all along, the people cheered,
"Long live the prince!"
"Prince! Prince!"
Just like how they did with Finn, the people who finally recognized Kaede's awesomeness chanted his name with reverence. Like ardent fans of an idol… or, since the Kaede was essentially composed of two souls, a boyband.
"Bwahahaha!" Mikael laughed evilly, happy about achieving his goal of changing Deon's bad image.
Far from a two-man boyband, Mikael and Deon now resembled an idol and his manager.
"Your highness! How did you do that?" one of them asked like a gossip reporter.
"That?" Kaede asked back.
"C-controlling objects! Is that a blessed ability? Do all royal family members have that?"
Everyone eagerly listened to Kaede's reply.
Commoners had been taught that the ruling family was descended from the legendary blessed hero, the spear god, Heinken. Hence the name of their kingdom.
It was said that 'Heinken I' was the first king and was bestowed divine abilities by the goddess Kariyah to protect his citizens.
No one knew what the so-called 'divine abilities' were, leaving people to wonder whether it was just a story to glorify the first king.
But now, after witnessing the prince's feats, they weren't so sure.
"Ahh…" cold sweat beaded Kaede's face as he struggled to think of a way out.
"Hey, kid. Isn't this good? We can actually use this misunderstanding to our advantage, can't we?"
After thinking for a moment, Deon agreed with Mikael.
'Yeah… there were no records of Heinken's power, anyway…'
In the end, Deon decided to tell a white lie.
"Yes, it is. But I ask that you keep it a secret."
The members looked to each other in confusion before coming up with a convenient conclusion on their own.
'Ah... This must be the reason why the third prince has such bad rumors surrounding him... he wants to keep his strength hidden and is deliberately acting foolish.'
'Maybe he just doesn't want to be seen as competition to his elder brothers.'
'Well, that's too bad. I wanted to brag about his highness to my neighbors.'
Thinking that the prince doesn't want to take part in the struggle for the throne, the members nodded,
"Please rest assured your highness. We shall keep our mouths shut," they promised as they turned their attention to the ditch.
Despite so much ant carcass floating and the number of water boas conjured, the water level remained the same.
The excess water flowed to the back tunnel along with the monster corpses. From afar, the trench looked like a trash-filled creek.
But then people suddenly realized something weird about the monster wave.
"Is it just me or are there only minor workers in this wave?" one of them mused loudly, prompting others to search for soldier ants among the pile.
"You're right… there are only minor workers… why?"
"Ahh… these muscle heads…" Dame Nora exasperatedly sighed, "Didn't we already talk about that in the first meeting?"
The people turned to her and asked, "Did we?"
Seeing their clueless reactions, Dame Nora decided to jog their memory, "I see you didn't even pay attention.
Well, according to the information provided by the prince, it seems the soldier ants don't leave the queen's chamber anymore. So, whatever we do to minor ants, they won't budge. That's exactly why we are doing this divide and conquer strategy."
Knowing that a huge chunk of the monster population consisted of minor workers who were substantially weaker than soldiers, Finn, their strategic leader, had formulated this plan to systematically diminish the ant's overwhelming numerical advantage.
And now, only the soldier ants and the queen were left in the entire colony.
"Wow… aren't we amazing? To think that we defeated the majority of them… Woah…"
Speechless, the people's mouths hung open.
"Don't be too complacent though. Even with the minor workers out of the equation, the soldier ants still far outnumber us… and don't forget that they are way stronger too." Kaede reminded.
Confidence is good when it is sufficient, but overconfidence can be fatal.
Mikael didn't want the people to think that soldier ants are weak and become sloppy.
After resting, the group went back to the Midden to regroup with Finn.
"How was it, Prince? Did anyone die?" As usual, Finn asked such ominous questions casually.
"Thankfully, no one died on our side," Kaede replied, now unbothered by Finn's way of speaking.
"Good…"
Only then did Kaede notice that Finn's eyebags were darker and baggier than usual.
"Sir Finn?"
"Uhh... yes?"
'Weird… even his response time is slow. Is Sir Finn sick?' Kaede thought in worry.
"You look tired. Are you okay?" he asked.
As if embarrassed that Kaede noticed his less-than-handsome appearance, Finn rubbed his eyes, "Ah… that's because I had to take a lot of my blood yesterday. You know… since there's a big battle ahead of us and my blood ink's running out. Why? Am I ugly? On no! I should never be ugly!"
'Tsk! Sir Finn panics for the weirdest reasons' Kaede shook his head in disbelief before remembering the red bomb.
"AH! Sir Finn! Now that I think about it, there was something unusual with the monster tide! They came too fast when the red pheromone bomb went off!"
"Red…" Finn's dead blue eyes suddenly widened in shock, "What?! There was a red bomb in your stock!?!"
Seeing the Almagi's violent reaction confirmed Mikael's suspicion.
There really was something wrong with that bomb!
Nevertheless, now that the ordeal was over, Kaede calmly responded, "Yes. a big red bomb. Why?"
Finn face palmed himself.
"Oh my… How could I make such a grave mistake? Is it anemia? Because I hadn't slept for three days straight? But I used to go sleepless for a week and still function perfectly…" He murmured.
Suddenly, Finn's head snapped back to Kaede, "You're telling me that no one died even when you used my new Ultra-Pheromone bomb?!"
"Ultra…" Kaede snickered at Finn's terrible naming sense.
"ANSWER ME!" Finn's agitation forced Kaede to stop laughing.
"Yes. it was close but really. No one died."
Then, Finn's gaze at Kaede regained their maniacal light. It was as if he was seeing a specimen worthy of a thousand years of research.
'Ah… Sir Deon… I shall follow you for life!'
And thus, the prince gained his second underling.
--Chapter end--
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**A/N Finn is second because Dame Nora was the first. Remember when she said, "I shall choose my liege'?